Harry Potter: Time Tested
by Abigail Skywalker
Summary: Ever wanted just a few things changed in the Harry Potter world, maybe just tweaked a little bit to make the story more terrifying or happier, or more interesting. Maybe Dumbledore has already tried it. What if he did all these things first before the time line you see in all the books. Dumbledore just can't stop Harry from Dying, no matter how hard he tries.
1. The End at the Beginning

**Never in my life had I thought to do; one of those terrible 'Harry Potter' fanfiction stories, but alas I have fallen to the dark side. Busied myself too much by wondering that poisonous question (what if?)**

 **So here goes another fanfiction that I might or might not finish.**

 **Here are Some of the Questions the movies and books make me ask?...**

 **Why did they have to send Harry back every summer to live with his muggle aunt, uncle and cousin when they obviously hated him, and he hated them? Surely they didn't really need to rely on the protective love magic that his mum left him. That just sounds like a lame excuse to send him back somewhere where you can continue to feel sorry for him.**

 **Why is Hermione the only one in Hogwarts who is responsible enough to keep a device that can turn back time? Doesn't Dumbledore feel in need of it at all?**

 **Why is Snape so hateful towards Harry Potter?... especially if he had been in love with Lily Evans, Harry's mum all that time. Even if he felt obliged to hate Harry for causing his mother's death, wouldn't he at least try, just a little bit more, … I don't know… Kindness to show him how much he cared… for Lily?**

 **So, Harry Potter's another of Tom Riddle's Horcruxes? … wouldn't that make everyone he lives with angry and depressed, because of the fragment of Voldemort's soul that had been left behind within him?**

 **If Dumbledore cares so much about Harry…. Why didn't, why couldn't he just adopt him? Wizarding children have to be cared for hating muggles… What?**

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 **Harry Potter: Time Tested**

Chapter 1. The End at the Beginning

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 _Certain things will probably deviate a great deal from the books you have read for Harry Potter. But the basic story line will be in place, just mixed up a bit more._

 _(Abigail Skywalker)_

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He was a great wizard. He had conquered many things and won many battles and achieved plenty of victories. But he had never really been one who enjoyed standing on the side-lines watching while other people suffered, but this was to be one of those rare occasions. He remained in the doorway, shocked at the crushing truth of the scene before him.

His young, newly-saved Death Eater and now broken ex-student, Severus, was weeping, as Dumbledore had never seen him do so before, into the neck of woman in front of him, totally unaware of all else going on about him. Lily's fiery red hair was falling over his shoulder and down his back, and that was the only thing that appeared to have retained any semblance of the colour that use to come spilling out of her, out of her cheerfulness, out of her fire for life, out of her zealous pursuit of knowledge. Her face was now as white as snow, and held such a solid, pained, and yet vacant expression that one could only assume that this woman was not the real version but rather a wax copy of her. A decoy, made to look like the original.

This idea was preferable compared to the dreadful truth. Lily and James Potter, such a newly married couple, such a kind and generous duo, so forgiving, and so optimistic, had fallen victims to a prophecy, just a pathetic prophecy that might or might not have even been for their son.

He looked up then. ' _Where was Harry? Did the Dark Lord get him as well?'_

He walked over to the crib in the corner of the broken room, and peering into it he saw to his shock and relief a baby and his pair of vibrant green eyes blinking up at him. The baby's face was frowning, and his head was a bit red as well as if he had been competing with Severus, until a few minutes ago, over who could cry for the longest. Severus had won on that front, for the baby looked exhausted with the effort, unaware at that moment of why he should be crying, what he had just lost, looking scared but at the same time about ready to fall asleep.

Dumbledore picked up the baby boy, who instantly found the shock of touching a long grey beard strange. And being put off with disappointment of this magnitude, he found he still had energy to cry. And so Dumbledore walked into the next room to leave Severus by himself to his grief. He walked downstairs and to where James Potter lay on the ground, his eyes still wide open.

' _I need to clear up here, but when to start…_ ' He shook his head in pain and grief.

Hagrid arrived, and Dumbledore gave the baby to Hagrid to look after. Miraculously the baby seemed to instantly stop crying. It was this strange power that the half giant had over all creatures, beautiful silence and calm, to any and all the terrible cries they would normally give.

Dumbledore came back into the upstairs room after a few minutes downstairs. "Severus?" Severus was exactly where he had left him. Supporting Lily's red head on his chest, occasionally brushing the stray strands of red hair away from her face. The young man's eyes were cold and black as they looked over his shoulder accusingly, back at him. But the momentary hate was just that, and as if he could read the young man's mind, Severus's eyes flickered away from him and focused on Lily again.

"You blame me for her death?" Dumbledore said clearly.

Severus cradle her head in his arms again, and looking down on her face, he blinked away his blurring vision. "No. Not entirely." It sounded like he was speaking it through clenched teeth. He shook his head, and seemed to be getting ready to speak again. When a torn-yell broke through his lips.

"I wish I was dead!... I wish I was dead." He was shaking, with rage and himself or at Voldemort, or at himself Dumbledore would never know. "She was the one thing I never wanted to hurt, or to see broken, or to get defiled." He spoke the last words bitterly, and Dumbledore was for now somehow glad that James was not alive witnessing someone he considered to be an enemy, calling his love towards his wife a defilement, and holding onto his wife so endearingly.

"Severus…" Dumbledore started calmly.

"I've loved her for so long. I've… I've wasted my life… Haven't I?" He shook his head slowly. Dumbledore could see was going to be harder than he had first thought. Severus was obviously going through a few very deep regrets.

"Severus you need…"

"She ended up hating me you know."

"She didn't hate you …" Dumbledore tried speaking in softer tone.

"She would never have let me get this close to her while she was alive. He made her hate me! He turned her against me! IT WAS ALWAYS HIM! Making my life more Miserable was his Life's Greatest Accomplishment!" The last words were spoken with such bitterness that Dumbledore moved back from him as if he had let poison into the air.

"Severus, you give James too much credit. Lily had a very independent mind as you know…" Dumbledore paused as if waiting to be interrupted again. "… but it wasn't James that divided your relationship with her it was your choices."

Severus glared back. "He…!"

Dumbledore held up a hand to silence him. "You focused so hard on being rewarded and acknowledged for what you could do with your abilities, where you wanted to go, what you could be. You never stopped to ask the question why. There were many choices you could have made Severus, and you chose to befriend other students that were delving into dark magic, you should have known that you could not have forced her to like you by becoming more powerful."

Severus face crumbled again, and his shoulders bent with shame, his rage and grief were overpowering, and despite trying to hold himself in check Dumbledore found streams of unbidden tears running down his face. _'Life was unfair to the brave, to the cruel, and to the cautious; we all of us are to suffer the consequences of death. Just a few months ago, Severus had been fine with murder and pain that he had been inflicting on others, but when it came to a person he deeply cared for, he finally was able to wake up, and decided it was wrong.'_

Severus appeared to try and swallow his grief again only for it to immediately affect his shoulders and cause them to start shaking. He pulled her tighter towards himself, refusing the cold reality that death had brought to her body and the Forbidden curses' true strength.

Hagrid much to Severus's annoyance came up the stairs with the baby in his arms. He began talking about having seen Sirius Black.

Severus had soon broken out of the entrapment of pain and looked ready for revenge. "He was the one wasn't he?"

Dumbledore looked torn. He couldn't believe it himself. "I think I did hear James saying he wanted Sirius as his keeper…"

Severus stood up, and exchanged glances with Dumbledore. "I shall come with you." Dumbledore said clearly. And they both spirited themselves away to find a trace of the man who should have been with, or at least protecting the young family. Dumbledore seemed unable to get another word out of newly-dead, Death Eater.

A day or so later when Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew had been found in an over-populated muggle area, the news spread like wide fire among the wizarding world, that the young Harry Potter had somehow survived the unforgiveable killing curse, that it had somehow rebounded off him and onto the deliver, leaving nothing but a scar on his forehead. And the god-father of a young Harry Potter, had been driven mad by the dark lord and forced to reveal the location of the young family, and then was driven to kill another friend who had apparently found out the truth.

To late it seems for so many things, but somehow, somewhere along the way, a miracle had happened, and the dark Lord was no more. It was mystery. That the child had survived at all.

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Now, if conversing with a hesitant ex-Death Eater had been hard before, it most certainly was now. It took some time to speak to the grief-stricken man. He blamed himself for everything, and neglected to look after himself as if it was his penance, and glared at anyone and everyone who offered him any hope or relief. He was certain he had not earned it. He couldn't or wouldn't obtain it. He would not be grateful for their kindness, it was only so deep.

Once, a few names were called out by a witness concerning certain Death Eaters, and Severus's name was called out, and a hearing was called to. Dumbledore spoke up for the hollowed out shell, proclaiming the man's faithfulness, and turning from the dark lord.

Severus proclaimed how grateful he was with his protection and for his belief in him, and that it was more than he deserved, but that was as far as it got.

But try as he might with the young man, he could never get back that same shy, sometimes relaxed smile that had once or twice transformed his face in those early first years that he had spent at school. The time when he had still been on talking terms with his young childhood friend.

He got thank you's and immediate obedience, as if somehow Severus had now decided that he owed his old headmaster a life debt.

Hoping that being around children might in fact bring back more life in his eyes Dumbledore offered Severus a job as a Librarian at his school. Severus was good in the job. His ability to retain information was valuable, but he was not a people pleaser. And very soon Albus realized how bitter Severus had turned out to be, finding enjoyment in inflicting punishment, and retaughting slightly offensive comments with his - soon to become famous – cutting, sarcastic remarks that could make some of the toughest of his students cry.

Still, Albus Dumbledore did not want to see Severus waste away, and despite what Severus told him from time to time, that he didn't care about what happened to him, and that Dumbledore was just wasting his time, Dumbledore just knew that was a mask in place to cover up that deeper hurt. In Severus's mind he had nothing to live for.

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 **End of Chapter one.**

 **So, that was dismal. Tell me what you think.**


	2. Adopted by Dumbledore

**Please Review, I love to read them. If you have a question about a character, or an idea that you feel you can't contain please let me know.**

 **Abigail Skywalker**

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 **Harry Potter: Time Tested**

Chapter 2. Adopted by Dumbledore

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Now Dumbledore thought it would be best if the baby was given into the loving hands of his immediate family members. It worked out brilliantly, baby Harry's Grandparents, on his mother's side were indeed happy to have him, despite the disapproving declarations of his aunt (about him being the son of a freak…! That Potter!) To which when he recounted this particular tale to Severus, was surprised to see a terrifying sign of a thin smile on his face.

His Grandparents, were a little snobbish, and decided that it was most certainly not their precious Lily's fault that she had died in a … car crash… yes, that was what their eldest daughter had told them, but most definitely her husband's fault. James had just been too reckless. So, determined that Harry shouldn't feel left out of the family, they rechristened their adopted grandson as Henry Evans, but still called him Harry at times. And so the name of Potter was not known at all during his early years.

And there, Harry was very happy until both his Grandparents died on his sixth birthday. However, when Potter was sent to his Aunt and Uncle's house, they soon found out that the young five year old couldn't handle the terrifying change. They started accusing him of bringing bad luck whenever something didn't quite go well for them, and of being involved in his parents' car crash and his grandparents deaths as well. His uncle was absolutely certain that he was what he called 'An epitomy of bad luck' this of course caused the child Harry to cry and run away from home to eventually get picked up by policemen.

Soon enough, his family wouldn't take him back and Harry consented to the idea that being at an orphanage was better than living with his stupid family in Surrey. And was happy to be dropped off there by the policemen.

Albus Dumbledore was concerned to hear news of this and immediately tried to think of what sort of help he could offer the boy.

He thought he could allow Harry to live with another wizarding family, but which one? He didn't want to put Harry into a home where he would be spoiled, but he also didn't want him to be badly treated either. He looked into the backgrounds of different families and eventually thought that he might be better looked after under his own gaze. And so, Albus Dumbledore took the child Harry under his wing, and placed him in the care of Rosmerta the Land lady of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsemead, just a little way from the school where he was headmaster. He paid her very well for caring for Harry, and although she was being paid handsomely for his care she spent most of her earnings straight back on him. Having no children of her own she valued his cheerfulness in her every day life and loved him like he was her own.

Harry loved the change and would get to see his adopted father Albus Dumbledore every weekend or so. During the week he would go to the muggle school thirty miles away by bus every day and learn to read and write English, read social studies, study the sciences both basic physics, chemistry, and biology, and learned it was cool to really hate Mathematics. His great thirst for knowledge had started. But that didn't stop him from insisting to help out the very young-looking Rosmerta with cooking for the pub in the evenings. He liked the looks of adoration he got when helping, and the regulars and strangers that really liked him would even give him chocolate frogs as a special treat.

He grew up exceedingly fast and before he knew what had come upon him, Harry was 11 and received the letter that told him he had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Father?" Harry asked Dumbledore.

"Yes."

"Why is this letter addressed to Harry Potter? My name is Harry Evans."

"Well, that is an interesting thing isn't it." Dumbledore answered with a knowing smile. "You see when you were young, your grandparents named you after them, after your mother's maiden name, but actually, 'Potter' was your father's last name, so it really should be yours as well."

Harry frowned. "But then why didn't I get my name changed earlier? Why are you just telling me that now?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, the name Harry Potter is a famous name you see. Your parents were killed a long time ago by a very bad wizard, Harry, but you survived, and everyone knows you by your famous last name. That is why I thought it would be best to bring you up under the name your grandparents called you."

Harry nodded, not really understanding, but agreeing with his father. Dumbledore thought it would be best if he ordered up all of Harry's needed gear and gave him his father's wand that he had been saving on that occasion to give to Harry specifically.

Harry was thrilled to go to the place where his father worked, to the amazing Hogwarts. He packed his bags in that haphazard way that most boys of eleven pack and Rosmerta had to remake the suitcase for him. Dumbledore took him with him personally, he didn't want Harry, _his son_ to get hurt or bullied in any way on that train. He knew it wouldn't be long now, but he still didn't want Harry to be bombarded by too many children with demanding questions.

As soon as they got to the school he was shown around by Dumbledore and then left in the care of Professor McGonagall who was waiting for Hagrid to show up with the rest of the first years. And Dumbledore went into the main hall where many people were already beginning to come. Once all the greetings, hugs, handshakes where done and the older students had been asked to settle down. Dumbledore sat down at the head of the main table in the great hall, and watched in anticipation for the young first years to come walking eagerly into it. Such astonishment and thrill on their faces sent a rush of joy that forced itself out in the form of a smile on his face. Harry was leading the group, grinning up at the front of the hall.

Many names were called, and then finally his name was called. "Harry Potter."

There was a loud and audible gasp from around the room, and Harry walked up to the sorting hat, looking thrilled, terrified, and embarrassed as he felt and saw everyone's eyes on him.

"Ravenclaw!" The Hat called out. Harry smiling, got up and ran over to the table of the cheering blues.

This is the list of the First years that started at the same time as Harry.

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For Gryffindor was the small selection,

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Lavender Brown

Seamus Finnigan

Hermione Granger

Neville Longbottom

Parvati Patil

Dean Thomas

Ronald Weasley

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For Hufflepuff were the kind-looking

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Hannah Abbott

Susan Bones

Justin Finch-Fletchley

Wayne Hopkins

Megan Jones

Ernie Macmillan

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For Ravenclaw were the intelligent

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Terry Boot

Mandy Brocklehurst

Michael Corner

Anthony Goldstein

Sue Li

Harry Potter

Morag MacDougal

Padma Patil

Lisa Turpin

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For Slytherin were the ambitious

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Millicent Bulstrode

Vincent Crabbe

Tracey Davis

Gregory Goyle

Daphne Greengrass

Draco Malfoy

Theodore Nott

Pansy Parkinson

Blaise Zabini

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Dumbledore hid his surprise quite well. He had been certain that Harry would be in Gryffindor like his parents had been, but maybe the hat had chosen due to what the boy had felt was right for himself, he nodded, ' _Yes, Harry had grown up to be a very intelligent young man that was well behaved and good, all the qualities that Ravenclaw valued.'_ He smiled to himself, ' _that probably comes from being brought up by an old sentimental man.'_

' _Ravenclaw and Slytherin have got a good amount this year. May you be wise and swift like the eagle, my son.'_ Dumbledore thought the blessing, and when the sorting hat had finished he gave his speech and they all sat down to the start of the years feast.

His first year started so well. Harry had a lot of ambition. _'He would be the best in his class! He would make his teachers, and dead parents proud! He would make Dumbledore Proud.'_

Dumbledore could not have been more pleased at Harry's optimism. He made a great first impression. He was such a good boy, kind, confident. It seemed only natural that he should have a sea of friends around him. And so it came as no surprise to Dumbledore when Harry started getting top marks in all his subjects, well except Potions for some reason. (Dumbledore had given his old friend, Severus, a promotion from library duty to potions master a couple of years ago, as he had been so good at it, but Dumbledore still wondered from time to time whether that was a very good idea. He made all his students terrified of him.)

It was to be expected that Harry might have to face opposition in the future especially when concerning you-know-who, but Dumbledore hadn't known just how soon that would have been. If he had he would have taken good measure to protect him from it.

Harry was cursed, not just by the mark on his head, but also by his very investigative mind. It was restless, he was restless, and when he heard that a troll had been let out in the dungeons below, he decided that it would be fun to go down with four of his friends to investigate it.

Thankfully, they missed it entirely, but Dumbledore was very disappointed in Harry for risking his life as well as the life of his friends, and sadly the escape of the troll was not without pain, as a young girl from Gryffindor, called Hermione Granger, was murdered in the girls' bathroom by that same troll. She had apparently been crying for being picked on in classes for knowing too much more than the rest of the class, and had not shown up for supper in the main hall. Harry hadn't had many classes with the house of Gryffindor so he didn't know her very well, but that didn't stop him from punching a boy in the face from Slytherin for laughing at the fact that the Troll had gone straight for a mudblood.

He had got detention for the first time in his life and a deduction of twenty points for Ravenclaw as Severus had thought it good to punish Harry for unprovoked assault. And the four others that went with him got taken forty points off as well, or endangering their lives. This deduction did not sit well with the rest of Ravenclaw as the very idea that they should have been so severely punished did not seem fare.

But Harry's curiosity would not be held back, even if his life and free time might happen to be on the line. When he had heard that, THAT boy from Slytherin Draco Malfoy, was talking about another one of his awful detentions with Hagrid. ( _Which he got for throwing Neville Longbottom's memory ball through Professor McGonagall's office window.)_ His interest peaked and he listened to the Slytherin gloat about how brave he had been, and how a dark and nasty thing that had slithered about in the forbidden forest had also been drinking unicorn blood. Harry began to investigate. He created his own group of followers and he called them all the 'Junior Detective Squad'.

Dumbledore was anxious with Hagrid's report, and investigated as well. No matter what he discussed, and where he looked, with his groundskeeper Hagrid, he couldn't get any other bits of information from him about where this particular creature came from and where it went.

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 **What do you think is going to happen? Do you guys have any ideas?**


	3. Voldemort Alive? Restart!

**So! Chapter 3. Here we come.**

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 **Harry Potter: Time Tested**

Chapter 3: Voldemort Alive?

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Harry wasn't just popular in Ravenclaw for his brain and good behaviour, no, he was talented at Quidditch as well. Within a few practices on his broom and he was sky dancing and soring into the heavens without a seeming care in the world. One of the fourth years noticed this and told their Captain, and Harry was substituted with one of the 3rd years, he was the seeker. And this decision was met with a lot of opposition and it was against this third years wish as he really wanted to play, but he had been badly injured in both the previous game with Hufflepuff, as one of the beaters was a bit too accurate with their shots, and during practice as he hadn't noticed another bludger coming towards him.

So it was the last match of the year and they were up against Gryffindor. Slytherin had just had their last match of the year and had scored a huge lead over Hufflepuff. It was up to this match now which team would be able to score the most. It wasn't about who got the snitch first in this game it was about scoring as much as possible before the snitch was found. Slytherin had won 350 to 70 against Hufflepuff and so the bar was high.

For the first half hour it was a very intense and thrilling game, but the keepers seemed to have a knack for dodging to the wrong side whilst trying to prevent a goal. A lot of Slytherins shouted from their tall emerald and silver tower that Ravenclaw weren't playing seriously. (Naturally whenever Gryffindor was playing against a team Slytherins would cheer for that team. Undoubtably for some bizarre biased reason that had been going on for decades.)

But while balancing himself on his broom and looking down on the zooming Quidditch players, Harry thought for he could agree with the Slytherins. Not that he felt like complaining, but it did seem as if there had been an unspoken truce between the two teams to allow every other second ball smash at the hoops to pass through.

Soon, it was Gryffindor 170 to Ravenclaw 140 it was then that Gryffindor seemed to have had enough of the stage like show of missing and picked up their game a bit. Ravenclaw felt it instantly they hit harder and were more brutal than ever.

A five-minute time out was called when both teams had knocked out a few players and substitutes were called on. Harry thought he had never seen a more brutal game. It wasn't the fact that one team was cheating over the other, but it was just really fast. And the quick moves and turns some of the players were trying to take seemed suicidal.

Another loud ring sounded off as Gryffindor scored again and the Ravenclaw house groaned aloud. Harry shook his head and carried on circling around the field searching for that snitch. Gryffindor was working really hard. They were soon 160 points ahead of Ravenclaw. Both team's players were beginning to look white from exhaustion.

Then Harry saw it. A flash of gold appeared twenty metres away from him at the top most part of the Slytherin tower. He shot towards it as fast as he could, but unfortunately the 3rd year Gryffindor twins had apparently noticed his movement, and yelled at their seeker to intercept.

Harry shot left after the snitch and then veered right. But the twins came along side him and started cheering him loudly and pointing in lots of different directions as if they had just seen the snitch.

"There it goes!" Said one. "You see that George!"

"No, Fred, don't be daft it's down there! Near the …"

"No! Look I see gold up there!"

Their distraction worked very well as Harry lost sight of it for a while, but thankfully so had the Gryffindor's Seeker as well.

But within five minutes he had sight of it again and with fresh determination he raced toward it, his eyes watering at the speed with which his was going, his glasses doing little to protect his eyes from the torrent of wind that rushed about it's edges. But he caught it and almost fell off his broom in delight. His house cheered. They might not have won the match, but he had at last ended the game and they at least had got just as many points as Slytherin, if not maybe just a little bit more.

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It seemed as though the trouble with the troll was so long ago, the fact that someone had let it loose on school property had long since been forgotten. That was before just as a few weeks away from the end of the last term of the year.

One terrible day, Dumbledore found Professor Quarrel dead in the dungeons. The back of his head had been burned as if a creature that aimed to kill by going straight for the mind had attacked him.

Professor Quarrel had only been teaching at Hogwarts for those three terms… every student thought he was a bit of a quiet and sad man, but none the less had worked well and hard and would always seem to know how best to teach and say to students all be it in a very scared sort of way. And to have this happen. It didn't do anything for the school's creepy reputation that the position of the 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' post was in fact jinxed.

No matter where they looked or what sort of devises they used they couldn't find what coursed it. And Hagrid, even being as he was a great beast lover and collector of strange animals had no idea what could have coursed it. It wasn't a curse (none that they had ever seen make such a mess of the back of the head) , and it was not a potion that the Professor drank, (Severus did a check for toxins and potions.)

"Maybe it was a parasitical creature." Severus offered up sarcastically, into the amount of suggestions the teachers were making to try and ascertain what to do next. "I wouldn't be surprised if he had been possessed. He was always acting like scared little goat."

Minerva rubbed her elderly elbows as if struggling with stiff joints, or maybe seeing the man like this made her suddenly feel colder. "How shall we break this news to the school… or to the parents. They won't want their children to come back here if they are afraid of them getting murdered in their beds."

It was decided that the truth would be told and that the school would be off limits when it should be opened in September until the source had been found. The houses gathered for a mournful funeral and two days later the end of year celebration took place and Hall had been decorated with a glorious array of sliver and green as the house of Slytherin had won the most points of the year overall, even though Gryffindor had won the Quidditch House Cup.

They ate and had fun and sung ridiculous songs and mocked other houses and clapped each other over the back and exchanged details.

And then they all went home.

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"Knock. Knock."

"Harry! Could you get that for me!" Rosmerta called up to him from the kitchen. "I'm covered in flour."

"KNOCK! KNOCK!"

"I'm just coming!" Harry took off down the stairs four steps at a time, and ran to the door. "Hi!" He said opening it wide. "I'm sorry we're not open yet if you come back in two hours we'll be ready for you."

"Not ready for me?" The stranger smiled. "Do you not know my name?"

Harry frowned and tried to look harder at the man beneath a hood. "No." He still couldn't really see his face very clearly.

The stranger stepped forward, and pushed passed Harry into the downstairs hallway. While brushing by Harry, the shrowded stranger's billowing cloak knocked Harry's glasses a little.

Harry, feeling annoyed readjusted his glasses and frowned unsure as to why the man had barged in. "What do you want?" He said in as a determined and bossy voice as possible for an eleven year old.

Walked into the main living space. "It's Harry Potter… isn't it. If I'm not mistaken."

"Yes." Harry glanced at the door briefly, wondering if Rosmerta was expecting this man. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"My name…." He pushed back his hood. His head was bare, and slicked back as if the forehead had been pushed backwards. His eyes were gleaming red with sparks of gold that seemed to give the impression that they were on fire. He raised his wand. "Well, I… Harry, have been so looking forward to meeting you again, I haven't had the chance since your father and mother got in the way."

Harry gasped, "You! You're Voldemort! You killed my parents!" He looked shocked, but at also curious and angry.

"Yes." Voldemort nodded. "Do you want to know why?"

Harry felt mad with anger but at the same time in great danger and started to step back slowly so he could be closer to the door. "But You're dead. You can't be here."

"Young Potter, I am too great a wizard to die, as you are yet too young to understand."

Harry ran to the door, _'He wasn't old enough to use Magic by himself in that house, and his wand was upstairs._ '

"No!" Voldemort shouted and the door slammed shut right in front of Harry's nose.

He turned back around to face the stranger. _'This was him? This was the one that must not be named.'_ "I'm not afraid of you."

"No? Of course not your parents weren't either, they just trembled in front of me as I killed them off. One by one." He had such a gleeful expression on his face that Harry's stomach dropped. ' _How could anyone be happy with murder?'_

Harry seemed to gather his courage up again. "My parents didn't cower in front of you!"

"And I suppose they just accidently walked into the line of fire…." He laughed.

Harry glared at him.

"You should know that I didn't really come to kill them that night, no. I came to get you. This wand was only supposed to take one life that night. And that was you."

Harry had never been told this before. _'Voldemort hadn't intended to kill his mother and father?'_ "Why? What have I ever done to You!"

Suddenly Rosmerta came out of another door and into the room. She halted at the sight before her.

"No! Go back! Go Back!" Harry yelled, but it was too late.

"Avada Kedavra!" A shot of green light sprung from his wand and hit her chest.

"Noooo!" Harry screamed and ran to her side. He shook her shoulders, and then pulled her front off the wooden floor and rolled her onto her back. The light that always seemed to sparkle there was gone and her body was already stiff as if the body had been dead for hours. "No. No." Harry held her hand, unwilling to accept the death before his eyes.

"Come with me Harry." Voldemort raised his wand and pointed at Harry. Immediately, as if an inaudible spell had been cast, Harry felt as though he was weightless and started rising up in the air. Voldemort waved his wand forward pointing to the door and Harry was thrown against it, smashing his glasses, hurting his neck and shoulder.

"The door doesn't seem to want to open does it child?"

"Stop it! Please!"

"I've waited a long time for this Harry. Why would I stop now, when I have our entire day planned out for us?" He pointed to the window. "How about you open this for me?"

He was thrown forward into that as well, and the glass was shattered and Harry couldn't get back control of his arms or legs. He felt such pain, and saw his arms and legs had deep gashes from the glass in them. Before he could get over the shock of seeing how much glass was in him. He was lifted back off the ground again and risen high up into the air. He could see people were coming out of the other buildings in the village, and he could hear them screaming to each other. No one really moved forward to help him, they all rather than do that began to scatter in all sorts of directions.

"We're going to have so much fun Harry!" Called up the bald man beneath him. And suddenly Harry felt himself falling. Thud! Crack!... the ground was hard and sore. Harry tried to move again, but found he couldn't. His leg and right foot were too painful.

More screams sounded out from everywhere as a few buildings caught on fire, and then as Harry was raised up in the air again he noticed a few blurry people all dressed in black coming up and down the main road.

He covered his face with his arms and the ground rushed up to meet him again.

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Dumbledore rushed back to Hogesmead when he saw the sign of Lord Voldemort's skull floating in the air like a black cloud. There in the centre of the burning village were bodies of innocent villagers pilled up on top of one another.

He rushed into the Three Broomsticks to find the thing he dreaded most. Harry was lying dead on the ground in a pool of blackish red blood as if thrown there through the window. There were gashes across his face, neck, arms, and legs. It was also evident that there were a lot of broken bones.

Albus bent down and fell to his knees. _'How could I have been so careless? How could I have allowed this to happen?'_

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He had avoided the people badgering about him demanding to tell them all that had happened. He needed to focus. Dumbledore was determined not to let it end here. He started pacing back and forth in his study when he remembered something.

Walking quickly to the cabinet he pulled out a tattered looking square box that had a number of different carvings on its surface. He rotated a circular shape on the lid 180 degrees, and then slid the bottom out of the box and then placed his little finger into the crack on the left bottom corner. There was a hissing sound and the box opened to reveal a necklace of a sort.

' _Just this once I think. I can't do much else. I can't let this be the path that is destined.'_

He picked up a necklace, and it was contrived of three circles one each rotating within the other and with one small hourglass in the very centre. It was a time turner one that he had always kept at Hogwarts unknown to anyone else.

He lifted up the chain and placed it around his head and spun it….

And spun it ….

And spun it…

He found he couldn't spin it further than when he first became the owner of it, which was the year 1981, which he found frustrating. If he had got a hold of it before Voldemort came into power he would be able to prevent Tom Riddle from ever changing. Maybe, or He could have prevented Harry's parents from dying.

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He arrived just before another school year started. He checked his Calendar. Harry's parents would have died a week ago. _'Such a same I didn't get this earlier.'_

He looked at his watch. Now He wouldn't be able to remember what had happened in the past when he performed a body and mind meld with his current self. So what to do what could he do to save his memories…. He pulled up an old basin that had been used by the previous head master. He had gone a bit mental, but he had apparently saved himself from insanity by rewatching his happy past memories when he had felt depressed. This is when Dumbledore had a brain wave, what if he pulled out all his memories here and stored them all up. What he could do with them all was beyond ideas. He pulled forth as many of his memories, manly the most important ones, but some that he treasured also came to the forefront from his mind too. And when he had stored up what he considered the perfect amount he waited for his double to appear and put an enchantment on the door. The paintings all around the room seemed to be finding this very odd indeed, but they didn't question it. As soon as the current Dumbledore came through the enchantment the spell melded him and himself together and Dumbledore shocked with the pain of the melding fell to the floor and woke up hours later.

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Dumbledore awoke with an urge to look into a strange store of memories after picking up Harry, that had suddenly appeared in the corner of his room and was shocked by what he saw there. The idea of seeing the baby he had been holding growing up so perfectly only to be killed in such a brutal way made him feel sick, but where should the baby go?

He was stuck with what to do again. What was he to do? Harry's parents were dead. What should he do? He was back at the start again apparently?

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	4. Welcome?

**Review! If you think it's good, and even if you think it's not good. Tell me what you like. :D I like feedback, even if I don't agree with it.**

 **Be prepared for a cute six year old Harry.**

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 **Harry Potter: Time Tested**

Chapter 4: Welcome

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Today was July the 17nd of 1986, and it was another terribly hot summer's day, that was promising imminent rain. The North winds that seemed to have taken a break from gushing down through the town, were still doing a little more work and were blowing the threatening black clouds down towards England. At an old, rustic pup in Edinburgh, sat an old man whom would have blended into the wallpapers of the place if he hadn't had long greying hair. He was dressed in very elegant, but odd purple and pale green embroidered robes, and beside him stood a much younger man, (but with a far less sophisticated style), who seemed to have been overcome and belonged to the emotion of disgust, dressed all in black, leaning on the bar, and was looking down his nose at whatever he was drinking as if debating whether or not it was worthy to be consumed, and then getting over the hesitation he drank it down as if it were water.

These two people were Wizards. The elder, anyone from Hogwarts would have recognized as Albus Dumbledore, and it was he who was speaking to the younger, a mister Severus Snape in the crowded area. It appeared as if Dumbledore was trying to talk Snape into something, but from what one could see that the younger man seemed to have given up on something quite vital.

"I don't want to teach anymore." Severus muttered back at Dumbledore obviously just answering a question asked of him.

"But, you've been doing it for five years why change your mind now?"

The young man shook his head. "I gave you my reasons in that letter." He looked a lot older than his mere twenty-five years. Some others might conclude that it was a deep depression at work that was taking it's toll, but people throughout the wizarding community all said it had to do with spells and potions that he had tried out, because the darker and meaner the spell the more liking it was to show on your face.

"I'm sorry, but the idea of loosing you is quite disastrous." Dumbledore admitted. "I must admit that I didn't know what to think of your methods when you first came, but your house has greatly improved since you got into teaching. I mean last year your house won the Quidditch house cup off Gryffindor. Something I had not imagined happening in my lifetime."

Snape gave his companion a raised eyebrow. "As headmaster you should not take sides so quickly."

Dumbledore's sharp blue eyes seemed to twinkle. "I can't help it. I was a Gryffindor. It's in my blood to wish well with my house and to mourn her loss."

Severus smirked, he still found it strange that he should have become relatively good friends with Albus Dumbledore, a teacher that he had at first hated and tried his hardest to avoid on all possible occasions. He didn't really need to start up the conversation when he was with Albus. No, that wasn't really Severus's style, that was all Albus, but what Severus did seem to end up doing was … Well everything else. Whenever Albus called him out to a meal or just a chat, it was usually to ask a favour of Severus, and now he was just waiting for the pleasant waffling, (that the wise wizard always seemed to relish in doing,) to die down before he could actually get to the point.

They talked, their words rotating around the subject of school for a little while, and when that was done Albus asked him about what he was planning on doing once he left.

"I've been asked to make a few things for the ministry. They seem to assume it would be ideal if I were to contribute. They've been saying more … savoury stories about what I might be getting up to at Hogwarts. I thought it would be quite beneficial to have a change of scene."

"Give me their names. I'll see if I can clear up this information."

"That will be fine, Headmaster." Severus sighed. "I doubt you interfering again will make matters better for me." He looked back up at Dumbledore then. "I hope you don't think I'm ungrateful. I have found this job very helpful. And I am… for all that you've done."

"Oh, no." Albus nodded seeming to understand Severus's awkwardness easily. "I know what you meant. Of course you might want to come back and teach in the future."

"I hope not."

"I thought you might want to stay just in case we come across another, apparently, unbeatable Riddle that needs solving."

Severus frowned, looking deeply concerned. "You think he can come back. Really? Even after what happened at Godric Hollow?"

"And what exactly happened at Godric Hollow Severus. I don't know. I'm not sure anyone else does either. How the boy survived where so many others did not?" Albus became silent when Severus's eyes glazed over and focused on the golden liquid in his glass. "It might be possible. I have my theories. I have thought back to how confident he was in boasting how he could not be killed, and my conclusion has been more than dismal."

"You're saying they died for nothing, the relief we've been feeling is nothing, that he could come back at anytime, using a form of magic only known to him?"

Dumbledore looked uncomfortable. "I'm only repeating this because I trust you, and I believe you should know my point of view from me before hearing a distorted version from someone else."

"I understand." Severus confirmed.

"Well, please except my best wishes for you and your new job." Albus said pleasantly, standing up and nodding toward him. "Oh, and may I have a moment of your precious time in two weeks or so. I must ask you for some advice in person."

Severus's left eye squinted. He didn't like the sound of this not at all. "I have time during the weekends, you know this already."

"Wonderful, I shall make certain I see you in two weeks, today, in London then Severus."

' _Why do get the feeling that this visit is going to be dreadful?'_

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It was a very dismal day when Albus came to Severus's house. The clouds were emptying their pockets, as they say, or God was taking a bath. When the front door received a hard knock! knock! knock!

Severus moved out of his chair, placing a book on top of a nearby tabletop. He walked around another stack of books, passed moving pictures in his hallway, some containing images of his mother and father or of people, which he didn't really care for. And then he was at the door. Severus opened the it and in walked Dumbledore, while clutching his right sleeve was a young Harry Potter obviously feeling a bit dazed and shy about visiting a person of whom he knew near to nothing about.

"Hello Severus!" Albus said cheerfully, while trying to pull Harry Potter forward from out of his very long sleeves, but to no avail.

Severus observed that he was quite as shocked with the appearance of Harry Potter as the child was at the sight of him at that moment. Although he hadn't given Harry Potter more than a glance when he saw him as a baby, he could definitely see his father in him especially with his glasses that he wore. But it was when Harry blinked that Severus caught the glint of his green eyes. ' _Got his mothers eyes.'_

"I suppose you want me to heat water for three." Severus said breaking his gaze away from the intruders.

"Oh, thank you Severus, that would be most kind."

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After an hour or so of talking Harry had overcome his shyness and had begun, much to Severus's dismay, to explore around the house. He came back with games that Severus had no idea he still had. He finally managed to settle himself down with a puzzle of the world and seemed to have taken a liking to it. Leaving both adults to the task of talking.

"It's been a while since I have visited your home." Albus said, sipping his tea, and looking at the stacks and shelves of books. "I had forgotten how much of a collector you were."

"Two weeks ago you didn't ask me what you had intended. You obviously wanted to speak to me about something important, I'd like to get to that particular part now."

"Indeed." Albus said in a soft voice, looking from Harry playing on the floor and then at Severus. "I was wondering… Did you want to Adopt Harry Potter?"

Severus had been expecting some terrible suggestion or piece of information, like someone was already after the boy again. Or perhaps that Harry had eaten something poisonous and was scheduled to die in a few weeks, but even that hadn't made sense, Albus would have brought him to Severus right then and there if there had been a problem. In those few seconds his mind froze, whirling around the why, and the what ifs. He would have undoubtedly coughed, and then choked on his tea if he hadn't already been predicting some terrible nuisance. Instead he pulled his cup away from his mouth, placed it calmly on the table, and looked back up at Dumbledore, and said. "What?!"

Harry took notice and looked up at the two of them. Dumbledore didn't answer straight away. Instead he smiled back at Harry, and within 10 seconds Harry had lost interest in what was being discussed.

"I think I would like to leave Harry with you for a little while."

"Are you mad? I don't want a child under my roof. I don't like most children. It's one of the things I'll be counting as a blessing, to be rid of, once I've left teaching at Hogwarts."

Albus shook his grey head. "You misunderstand. I want him to stay with someone who can teach and protect him. Someone of whom I can trust to do the job well."

"There are people, many different wizarding families, who would be more than happy to take care of the Boy who lived. I'm not a nanny for fatherless children." Severus spoke in a bitter whisper.

They both then looked sideways to the boy. But Harry hadn't seemed to have noticed them talking about him. Albus frowned at him. "I don't want Harry to live in a home with a parental figure that worships him and his abilities. He would be alienated and treated differently. He would be lifted up above his peers before he even knew why. That will probably happen when he's older."

"Unless he's a squib." Severus said with a happy smirk on his face.

"He's not a squib." Albus said.

"How can you be sure? He might be. I can wish can't I?"

"You seem to have an uncommon hatred towards a boy you barely know."

"Why don't you just look after him yourself then?" Severus said in a low voice.

Dumbledore's face looked downcast for a moment, and then he answered. "I have foreseen only disastrous trouble if I let Harry too close to me."

Severus stood up. "I doubt he could be any better with me."

"I see that too, very well I understand Severus."

Albus excused himself for a moment to use the lavatory, leaving Severus and Harry alone in his over-stored living area.

Harry apparently bored now with the puzzle that was harder than he had thought it would be, walked over to where Dumbledore had been sitting and dropped himself into the big chair and looked up at Severus. "Hi!"

He answered reluctantly, in a boring monotone voice. "Hello Potter." Severus tried to focus on anything else in the room apart from the boy in front of him.

Harry seemed to be trying to copy the wizard that just vacated it, and with a serious expression and a pouty mouth (which the child probably thought looked serious) he asked. "Why do you live in a Library?"

Severus frowned. ' _I do not live in a Library.'_ "Because I like to read." He said instead.

Harry nodded. "Why do you have lamps on inside when it's light-time outside?"

"I hate the windows."

"Oh….. What's your favourite colour?"

"Black." Snape answered. _'I hope he gives up on this soon.'_

"I like yellow!" Harry smiled. "It's the colour of the sun!"

"Really?" Snape rolled his eyes and looked at the books on the shelf above Harry's head.

Harry turned around and stood up on the chair to look at what Snape was occupied with. "Did you lose something?"

"No."

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing."

"Oh…. So sir…., can I have some cake?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please, can I have some cake?" He said stringing all his words together.

"No. And besides I don't have any cake."

"Yes you do. We brought some it's in the kitchen. Do you want some?"

Severus sighed. ' _Of course Dumbledore thought it would be good to bring cake didn't he.'_

Against his will and better judgement he walked the child to his kitchen, because he was not going to be the one to tell his professor that the precious potter had died from badly placed knife and cut.

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He brought the cake back into the living room/Library and almost trod on and walked over Harry, as he was so keen to see the cake and look at it.

' _You'd have thought he hadn't been the one to bring it.'_

They both sat down at the table, Severus was pleased it was just a plain carrot cake and nothing to fancy and big.

"It's my birthday today!" Harry said with his second mouthful.

Severus almost dropped his fork. He had forgotten. He had forgotten that Harry was born on the 31 of July, just three months and one year before his parents died. Before Lily….

His fingers closed around his face trying to massage his pain away. And then he leaned further back into his chair trying to throw off the feeling of sudden guilt that swept over his mind.

"Are you okay Mister?" Harry had put down his cake and looked at him with a worried expression. Severus noticed again just how green Harry's eyes really were. ' _Life is just one cruel joke.'_

"I'm well enough Potter." He cleared his throat, and added reluctantly. "And Happy Birthday."

Harry smiled again, obviously pleased to be given a 'Happiness blessing', and it just seemed to make his green eyes sparkle in the golden lamplight. Severus suddenly realized just how tiny he was, how much of a little runt he looked like, how pathetic, and innocent, and probably slightly stupid.

Harry lifted his plate to the table and got up to get off the chair his sudden movement knocked the table and he knocked the plate off the table. Both pairs of eyes watched it fall to the wooden floor with a crash, and a big chip broke of one curve. Harry's hands went to his mouth and looked horrified.

"I'm so sorry." He looked as if he was on the verge of tears. "I didn't mean to."

"I could see that." Snape said and stood up.

There must have been something threatening in his low voice that sent Harry over the edge because he then burst into tears.

"Don't be foolish!" Severus snapped, annoyed at the sight of unnecessary tears. "It was just an accident."

But Harry only seemed to cry louder. Severus lifted the two pieces into his left hand while grabbing his wand with the other. "Look…. _repario_ …."

Harry watched in amazement as the plate repaired itself and put itself back on the table, leaving the forgotten, spilt crumbs on the floor.

"Wow!" Harry staring wide-eyed, picked up the plate again as if he was holding something of immense value, and looked up at the older man. "How did you fix it?"

"Magic." Snape answered, relieved to have found that doing something so simple could have stopped the child from crying.

Harry clapped his hands in excitement. "Do it again! Do it again!"

"How about we play the game of pick up all the crumps you dropped, and then I'll show you another magic trick." Snape said sarcastically, not really caring if Harry understood it or not.

"Okay." Harry nodded and bending his knees he squatted and started picking up all the crumps, and bits of cake that had been dropped onto the floor, into his hand.

Snape sat back down and just observed the young boy. He wasn't used to this age. All the children he saw on a daily basis at Hogwarts were all 11+ but this child was… "So you are six years old now aren't you? Have you started school yet? Potter?"

Harry looked up. "Yes. I'm six today."

"And have you started school yet?"

Harry looked curious and somehow offended. "I don't do school yet, I'm too little. I can do pre-school though."

"Aren't you a little old for that now?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

Harry had another mournful look on his face again. "Yes," he sniffs only got louder. "I'm too old to play. I'm too old. I'm going to miss my friends." He scrunched up the crumbs in his hot hand. "Mr. Dum-bly-Door said I have to go somewhere else…."

Severus almost smiled. _'Dumblydoor?'_

"… but I don't want to. I don't want to." He sniffed again. "And I wish my Grandad, and Granny didn't die. I think it's my fault." His hand let go of the squashed, tiny, warm, carrot-cake ball, he took off his glasses and he started to use it to rub his eyes that were pouring out tears.

Severus stood up. ' _What the hell am I supposed to do in a situation like this?'_ "Potter, it isn't your fault."

That only seemed to make it worse, as Harry then started using both fists to wipe and rub his eyes. Severus bent down, put the Harry's glasses on the table, and then kneeled down beside Harry and pulled him into a hug. Well it wasn't much of a hug more like a light-touched, holding and a patting on the back.

After quite a few minutes of crying Severus spoke. "Potter… I mean Harry listen."

Harry sniffed and brushed his nose with the back of his hand, and looked at him. Disgusted Severus produced a tissue and gave it to the tearful child. Harry blew his nose and looked down at his feet as if sorry that he might have said something bad.

"Harry listen…" Severus repeated. "You didn't cause your grandparents' deaths, dying is a part of living, it was just meant to happen that way." Even to his own ears he thought it sounded hollow and ridiculous.

"I heard some old lady at their fuu-nun-ral say it was. And my auntie says it's my fault my mummy and daddy are dead…" He was shaking now and gripping onto Severus's black cloak as if his life depended on it.

' _What aunt tells her five-no-six year old nephew that he was responsible for his parents deaths? I mean, well I do believe it, but I wouldn't tell him that.'_

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear P..er…Harry." He touched the top of Harry's head his thick mass of black hair defying gravity and bouncing back after every pat and stroke. "They didn't die because you were there, they just died because it was there time to go, and no one can cheat death, yet."

Harry looked up at him then suddenly curious, very distracted, and surprised. "What do you mean, 'yet'?"

"No wizard has yet been truly been able to conquer death, but some still try. And they say that there was one wizard that could never die…" His voice trailed away and he looked at Harry's scar. "But sometimes big things die for very little, but good reasons."

Harry wiped away the rest of his tears. "I don't want to die."

Severus stood up. "No of course not. You're not going to die yet, not until you're old. You've got lots of time to live." He picked Harry up, not surprised that he weighed near to nothing, and walking across to the other side of the room he plopped him down onto a deep armchair. Harry almost disappeared into the striped, old taup and chocolate-brown armchair, and the down-filled, ribbed cushions seemed to swallow him when he leaned back on them. He looked at the shelves on his walls for something, anything that would take Harry's mind off the subject of dying. _'Where are those bizarre picture books? I'm sure I had some somewhere.'_

He found one eventually, _'The Fantastical Creatures Muggles Wish Were Real'_ it was a collection of the words of Polius Snorfinn and his study into the strange paintings and thoughts of muggles, whom were continulessly trying to prove the existence of fairies, elves, and mermaids. Most the pictures were entirely wrong however, and the mermaids looked far too human, but they had some facts right. But they were beautiful pictures, and they would distract him.

"Here." He gave Harry the book. "Just sit there, and read for a bit."

"Thank you." Harry smiled, and opened the book to read.

"And don't get too cold." Severus grabbed a folded blanket that was at the bottom of his bookcase, shook it out and dropped it on him.

"Thank you." Harry's voice was muffled as he was so buried. He had to fight his way to one end and flipped it over. There he could breath, and lifting his arms and book over the blanket, Harry opened it again and started reading.

It was only when Severus turned away from him to walk into the kitchen that he noticed Dumbledore in the doorway watching him. _'Oh, no.'_

They both walked into Severus's kitchen, which looked very old-fashioned, with it stone countertops and copper pots, pans, and utensils all hung above the cooker and stove. The entire room had dark green and copper colours all over it. And the overall affect was quite pleasant. It was to bad that the man who looked after it was nearly as good at looking after his own appearance as he was at making his kitchen clean. However, what would you expect from a potions master?

"So, you seem to be getting on well with Harry. I don't see what your problem is. It didn't look like you were finding that difficult at all." Albus's eyes twinkled.

Severus sighed. "If you're just looking for someone to care for him whilst you go off gallivanting somewhere I suppose I could … make sure he doesn't do something stupid, but I don't want to do it permanently."

Albus smiled. "I think that should be fine."

Within a few minutes Harry was called into the kitchen for more birthday cake.

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Severus had an awful feeling that everything was going to be hell from this point on. _'What ever possessed me to agree to this? I know nothing about how to raise a child, and I'll be terrible.'_

"Knock! Knock!" Severus moaned at the loud noise coming from the front door and walked up to it. He felt like a man walking to his own funeral. He opened it and was greeted with a grin and a wave from Harry, and a friendly, mind-reading, all-knowing smile from Albus Dumbledore.

' _Yes, he knew it. He knew it all along. He knew I'd give in and he knew I'd have second doubts.'_

"Good evening Severus." Dumbledore nodded, and Harry raced passed him into the house, for some reason keen to explore it again.

Severus nodded and let Dumbledore in. As he shut the door he turned toward his old mentor. "I … I think I have been unwise in accepting your offer. I thought it through again and I believe the child would be far better off living somewhere else." He said, before Albus could do or say something that would manage to change his mind again.

Dumbledore nodded as if in resignation. "I understand…"

' _Is that it then?...'_

"Harry, we're off again come along."

Harry, who had somehow managed to get upstairs, popped his head around the corner. "No. I'm not going yet. You said I will stay, so you go some to visit old friends." He sat at the top of the stairs sitting on his bottom with his legs outstretched, and with a gentle push of his hands, he started bumping his way down the stairs.

"Harry, Severus says you can't stay here at the moment, you might be able to come back another time." Albus nodded at Severus apparently feigning an innocent delivery of the man's feelings, but Severus just scowled knowing full well that that hadn't been the case.

Harry looked upset towards Severus. "I thought you said I looked at and draw some pictures in your library."

Severus felt awful. "Yes, but today is just…." Any argument that he could have put in place suddenly seemed really pathetic and sad. "It's a mess. I wasn't as ready as I'd have hoped." ' _What a ridiculous excuse! It's just pathetic! Useless! Why should I be the one to look after this child? He's not mine. He's got other places to go. Better people to look after him.'_

"Well, that's fine then." Albus said cheerfully. "Harry can help you clean up. He's been helping me, haven't you Harry?"

"Yes." Harry hugged Severus's legs. "I can help you if you want."

Severus felt his normally iron will slipping again and was frustrated with himself, and yet felt at peace with the idea. "Very well you can stay and help."

Harry stretched his arms out and Dumbledore bent down hug him goodbye. He then waved him off.

It hit home then for Severus. Albus Dumbledore really had just dumped Potter's son on him. Potter's son….

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Harry came downstairs in his blue pyjamas and ran up to the man reading by the fire.

"I thought I told you to go to bed."

"I'm not tired."

"I'm reading. Nothing exciting's happening just because you're out of bed, now go back upstairs."

"Well," Harry said, very importantly, as he pulled up a picture book that he had undoubtedly brought with him. "I'm am reading too, so don't interrupt me!"

Severus was in half a mind to laugh at him, when memories of a young James Potter came to mind of his younger self being laughed at constantly for being smart and book-focused.

"Very well. But you only sit in that chair by the fire you understand no leaving it and running about the house."

Harry nodded looking very serious as if taking a deadly oath, and satisfied Severus relaxed back into his chair.

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Within twelve minutes Harry had fallen asleep, no doubt lulled into sleep by the warmth from the fire and peaceful crackle of the flames. Severus had noted how determined the boy had been to stay awake. At one moment, he would be staring eyes wide open on the pictures in front of them, then his head would start nodding, swaying backwards and forwards his eyes half shutting, and then he would wake up suddenly and the cycle repeated itself. Severus got up and approached the five year old. "Come on you. It's time you went to sleep in your room. No drooling is allowed on furniture downstairs."

Harry woke up suddenly at the sound of Severus's voice. When he was near enough and seeming to be waiting for Harry to get up and follow him, Harry instead raised his arms. Severus paused for a moment, and then as if running on instinct he scooped Harry up in his arms and carried him up to his new bedroom. Harry had wrapped his arms around Severus's neck, but had been so tired that he instantly fell back to sleep, and he was now limp in the wizard's arms.

Severus managed to open the bedroom door with his wand, and pulled back the bedcovers with another small flick. He place Harry on the sheets and lifted the duvet back over him.

 _'This doesn't seem that hard.'_

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 **:D**


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